OSU football: Notes from Mike Gundy’s weekly news conference

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy addressed members of the media Monday ahead of the Cowboys’ game against Texas. Here are some things he had to say:

Gundy thankful for night kickoff

The galore of playing No. 6 Texas aren’t the only special things happening on OSU’s campus this week.

It’s America’s Greatest Homecoming, yet in recent years, the Cowboys haven’t played at night during their celebrations. On Saturday, the game will be in primetime on ABC with ESPN’s top crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor on the call.

For the OSU fanbase, Gundy said he is excited about the night kickoff because of the preparation that the students go through in the weeks leading to the event.

“Looking forward to a big crowd here Saturday night,” Gundy said. “The evening game for Homecoming is awesome because of all of the work that goes into this. Our students put so many hours into homecoming, and it’s not good when it’s 11 o’clock. It should generate some excitement for the crowd here Saturday night.”

On parents complaining about playing time

Gundy can’t remember the last time a parent called to complain about his or her son’s lack of playing time.

With OSU’s underwhelming 4-3 start, fans have been clamoring for a change. Most notably, a lot of fans are wanting OSU to change its quarterback to Hawaii transfer Dru Brown or Spencer Sanders, a highly-touted freshman from Denton, Texas.

Gundy said Brown remains the backup, and the ultimate plan is for both quarterbacks to redshirt this season if they haven’t played in more than their four allowed games.

Gundy said Sanders’ mother or father haven’t reached out to him directly, and he doesn’t think anything of the tweet.

“Social media is an outlet for people to communicate,” Gundy said. “Every mama loves their boy, and they want them to play more or get more carries or get more catches or whatever it may be. The only difference in anything that happening in society today than what has happened in forever is now you have a way to make it public. It doesn’t mean anybody is right or wrong. It just means people have a way to express an opinion so the word can see it, but we haven’t had any calls.

“I would rather deal with the players directly. I know when I went to school, I didn’t call my mom and dad and ask them to call the coach because my dad would have told me to stick it in my ass and do it yourself.”

Getting off on the right foot

It’s the little things that stick out in OSU’s three losses.

Gundy knows it. His assistants know it and so do the players. Penalties and missed assignments, blown coverages and not picking up blitzes. All of the little things opponents the Cowboys have done have hampered their ability to be in games when they likely have a better team.

But the better team doesn’t always win.

Gundy mentioned he wanted to limit missed assignments in the second half of the season. He sisd the big focus during the bye week was working toward fixing the small things.

“There’s different ways to handle that,” Gundy said. “You condense the packages somewhat. Some of it is related to youth and experience. You would like to reduce those numbers, and that would give us the best chance at success.”

Other notes

– Oklahoma State’s game at Baylor on Nov. 3 will kick off at 11 a.m. It will be televised on FS1.

Cameron Jourdan has covered Oklahoma State athletics since January 2017. He has written for The Oklahoman, The Tuscaloosa News and the Stillwater News Press, among others. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @Cam_Jourdan